Assamese Literature

Section A: Language

• History of the origin and development of the Assamese Language —its position amongthe Indo-Aryan language—periods in its history.
• Development of Assamese prose.
• Vowels and consonants of the Assamese Language—Rules of phonetic changes with stress on Assamese coming down from Old Indo-Aryan.
• Assamese vocabulary—and its sources.
• Morphology of the language—conjugation—enclitic definitives and pleonastic suffixes.
• Dilectical divergences—the Standard colloquial and the Kamrupi dialect in particular.
• Assamese script—its evolution through the ages till 19th century A.D.

Section B: Literary Criticism and Literary History

• Principles of literary criticism up to New criticism.
• Different literary genres.
• Development of literary forms in Assamese.
• Development of literary criticism in Assamese.
• Periods of the literary history of Assam from the earliest beginnings, i.e. from the period of the charyyageeta with their socio-cultural background : the proto Assamese Pre-Sankaradeva—Sankaradeva—Post-Sankaradeva—Modern period (from the coming of the Britishers)—Post-Independence period.
• Special emphasis is to be given on the Vaisnavite period, the gonaki and the post-independence periods.

• This paper will require first-hand reading of the texts prescribed and will be designed to test the candidate’s critical ability.

Section A

• Râmâyana (Ayodhyâ Kânda —by Madhava Kandali only)
• Pârijât-Harana —by Sankaradeva.
• Râsakrîdâ —by Sankaradeva (From Kirtana Ghosa)
• Bârgeet —by Madhavadeva.
• Râjasûya —by Madhavadeva.
• Kathâ-Bhâgavata(Books I and II) —by Baikurthanath Bhattacharyya.
• Gurucarit-Kathâ (Sankaradeva’s Part only) —ed. by Maheswar Neog.

Section B

• Mor Jeevan Soñwaran —by Lakshminath Bezbaroa.
• Kripâbar BorbaruârKakatar Topola —by Lakshminath Bezbaroa.
• Pratimâ —by Chandra KumarAgarwalla.
• Gâonburhâ —by Padmanath GohainBarua.
• Manomatî —by Rajanikanta Bordoloi.
• Purani Asamîyâ Sâhitya —by Banikanta Kakati.
• Kârengar Ligirî —by Jyotiprasad Agarwalla
• Jeevanar Bâtat —by Bina Barva(BirinchiKumar Barua)
• Mrityunjoy —by Birendrakumar Bhattacharyya
• Samrât —by Navakanta Barua